


Familiar

by Panda-Chan (Kage_no_Akuma_Shadow_Demon)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Dogteeth Kakashi Headcanon, Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, Momma Orochimaru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 10:43:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9381086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kage_no_Akuma_Shadow_Demon/pseuds/Panda-Chan
Summary: It takes time for Orochimaru to connect why some of the expressions that flicker across Kakashi’s face are sofamiliarto him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [A Snake In the Grass, a Wolf At the Door](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2348309/chapters/5179199) by [blackkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat/works?fandom_id=13999)  
> Head Cannon image of Kakashi's [mother](http://gaikage.tumblr.com/post/147619385963/hi-i-made-a-mom-for-kakashi-since-kishimoto) by [gaikage](http://gaikage.tumblr.com/)

It takes time for Orochimaru to connect why some of the expressions that flicker across Kakashi’s face are so _familiar_ to him.

Add the Inuzuka Clan markings to Kakashi’s face and he would look closer to his late mother Katsumi Hakate in those moments.

A pang echo’s in Orochimaru’s chest, he might not have been close to the slightly older woman when she was alive but on the few missions they had together the Hakate didn’t hesitate from getting close with that ever-present grin that bordered on foxlike.

She never seemed bothered by Orochimaru’s cold temperament and perhaps Orochimaru had become accustomed to her, had become the slightest bit warmer (if such a thing was possible), until her death.

Kakashi was barely approaching a year old by then if he remembered correctly, word spread that she was left behind during a mission gone sour. Retreat had been the only answer if they wanted to finish successfully and Katsumi’s team had put the mission before themselves thus sealing her fate.

(Is it really a surprise that years later when given the choice Sakumo chose his teammates before the mission? If only to spare his teammates families the grief he knew intimately?

And they sneered at him for it, whispered behind his back as though he were a traitor or a disgrace.)

Sakumo doesn’t speak of Katsumi often and Orochimaru doesn’t fault him for it, on the best of days remembering his own parents, remembering Dan or Nawaki still leaves a dull ache in his chest.

It doesn’t pang as deeply when he thinks of Katsumi, but perhaps that is simply because he hadn’t known her as intimately as Sakumo had, can only remember her ferocity in battle rather than her softer moments.

Sakumo isn’t around so Orochimaru offers; “When you have that expression on your face, you look like your mother.”

A stunned expression takes over Kakashi’s face and he looks at Orochimaru, the only ‘mother’ he’s known since Sakumo wiggled them both into his life.

“My…mother?” Kakashi replies, the word sounding foreign on his tongue, but perhaps that is because he rarely called Orochimaru ‘kaa-chan’ and often referred to him as Oro because of Orochimaru’s gender fluidity.

Orochimaru nods nonetheless, pats the grass beside him and Kakashi sinks by his side, dark eyes on Orochimaru’s face.

“She was an Inuzuka before she became a Hatake,” Orochimaru starts, “but she didn’t have a ninken from the Inuzuka clan, instead she had ninken summons. She was known as the best tracker in Konoha and she had two summons, Kanon and Yuuto.”

Kakashi is silent for a moment, almost as though he was unsure what to say.

“What was she like?”

“Strong.” Orochimaru says immediately, remembering her prowess on the battle field, “she was ferocious in battle, you have her teeth cub, she intimidated our enemy just by grinning at them. Her hair was red and her eyes were nearly yellow.”

“Like yours?” Kakashi asks but Orochimaru shakes his head.

“Warmer, like honey.” He admits, “she was muscular and kept her hair tied back with a ribbon, she admitted to me once that it had been from Sakumo, she was very sentimental and had it since they started dating.”

Like he was one to talk since he wore the tomoe-shaped earrings, a gag gift from Jiraiya, since he had been gifted them at fifteen. Until Sakumo had given him the silver and moonstone earrings at least. 

“She told you that?” Kakashi asked, sounding, not skeptical, but slightly surprised.

“I believe she was trying to befriend me.” Orochimaru admits, “She talked a lot when we rested, unlike the others she hadn’t hesitated from approaching me, much like your father.” His lips quirked at that at least, after all, what were the odds that the Hatake Clan would be the ones to reach out to him?

What had they seen that he hadn’t?

“Were you both friends?” Kakashi leans against Orochimaru’s side, fingers sliding through his hair carefully and Orochimaru allows it.

“Almost,” Orochimaru allows. “If I had gotten to know her better, let myself be known by her, perhaps we would have been.”

They are silent for a moment, comfortably, Kakashi's fingers are still in Orochimaru's hair and a part of him wonders if Kakashi is trying to imagine his mother.

“Thank you.” Kakashi says quietly.

“You’re welcome, cub.”


End file.
